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Safe to assume people are traveling again 🧐
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Nope. Rarely do. Usually go economy plus.
It’s not about the income. I could easily afford to fly first class but don’t value it enough.
Economy plus only. When you start doing things like pay for first class, you increase your spending consistently. Those little splurges continue to add up and then you have no choice but to stay on the rat race. Glad I didn’t and was able to exit to something with way better WLB and have a ton of savings from the consulting partner days in the bank.
You become broke by trying to act rich...
On clients I always fly business / first when they’re happy to pay. But personally unless it’s a minimal upgrade cost (less than 500-750) or I have the points etc. I don’t think it’s worth the 5-10x cost. And when I have done it, only special occasions or if it’s a long flight overnight so I can maximise the day when I land
Mentor
For domestic, don’t care.
Long haul I always do, but will game points / GPUs / etc to not pay full freight.
EM here and won’t fly coach overseas.
Let me just say that it’s pretty cool to read these posts and see how the Ps in this bowl have stuck to their values throughout their careers.
Sometimes Partners get an unfair rap for appearing to be pretty separate from the rest of the world - but for some reason, the comments in this post are really humanizing to me.
Mentor
Different partners are different of course since we’re all people.
I live quite lavishly in some ways and quite inexpensively in other ways - it comes down to what we find valuable. My houses are worth a combined $4M or so and I take very nice vacations. I also fly economy and drive an old Toyota.
Making a lot of money gives you huge freedom in deciding how you want to live and where you want to spend. There’s nothing inherently wrong with flying first class or driving a $200K car. My family and I have just chosen to spend elsewhere.
The only flights I would actually value it on (international), the up charge is also too offensive to seriously consider. I don’t care that I could afford it - the pricing is just offensive.
I pretty much only fly Southwest if flying domestic (I live closer to the airport they fly out of, it’s lower drama, and companion pass doesn’t hurt)
Mentor
I do on anything over 3-4 hours. Started when that extra money wasn’t something I’d miss.
I only ever fly Southwest or economy + on other airlines unless first class is a cheap upgrade or I can throw points at it. I rarely travel internationally, so the longest leisure flight I typically do is coast to coast once a year or so.
That said, I do tend to do a first class upgrade on average once a year, with the aforementioned caveats.
I'll also point out that my standard of living hasn't appreciably changed since back when I was a SC making $90k. We still live in the same starter TH we bought then, I still wear the same type of work clothes I did then, still eat the same food, and we still do the same types of trips. No one looking at my standard of living will be able to tell how much I make.
I only fly business or first for leisure when using points - never even paid for an upgrade once . But I do drive a high end car , and live in a nice house inside a golf course . That said , I have friends who only fly business but choose to drive an old truck , and my old manager had a net worth of probably 25M and used to live in the old two bed room he inherited from his parents . People are all different
If traveling on a red eye or over 6 hours, first or business class only. Will play upgrade chances or fly Southwest (companion pass) on shorter flights. Very good at using points / upgrades or finding discount fares. Aviation is a hobby/passion. I’ve had some incredible first class flights with my SO through the years but it takes a lot of time and effort.
As others have said, people will spend their money on different things. I value comfort in travel.
I wish!
You can tell OP’s priorities in life by this question...
I do it internationally. But domestic I rarely do. Most do Economy Plus. But sometimes I get upgraded or it’s last min and I upgrade for like $100.